Door-fastener for railway-cars



E. POSSON.

DOOR FASTENER FOR RAILWAY CARS.

APPLICATION FILED D20. 5. 1919.

1,397,934. Patented Nov. 22, 1921.

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DOOR FASTENER FOR RAILWAY CARS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC-5,1919.

Patented Nov. 22, 1921.

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Z W M E. POSSON.

DOOR FASTENER FOR RAILWAY CARS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 5,1919.

1 97,934, Patented Nov. 22, 1921.

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ZI/WJJ 2 E 7 lh flllmlllml FQQWCZTQ'F05507U EDWARD POSSON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

DOOR-FASTENER FOR RAILWAY-CARS.

. Application filed December 5, 1919.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I. EDWARD Possorua o1tizen of the United State residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois. have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Door-Fasteners for Railway-Cars of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a fastening device for use with the doors of railway cars. The invention is particularly adapted for use in connection with the sliding doors of baggage cars and the like and it is adapted to hold the door in an open or partially open position so that persons within the car will not be in danger of being caught between the moving door and the door post when the car is traveling over rough track.

The principal object of the invention is to provide an improved door latch which may be detachably secured to substantially any railway car door. A further object is to provide a door latch adapted to cooperate with the upper part of a sliding door and with a fixed part of the door frame for automatically securing the door in the desired position. A further object is to provide a movable locking member adapted to be attached to the door and arranged to engage automatically a locking plate carried by the door frame when the locking member approaches the plate from either direction. Other objects relate to various features of construction and arrangement which will be pointed out more fully hereinafter.

The nature of the invention will be understood from the following specification taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which one embodiment is illustrated.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a partial front elevation of the inside of a car door showing my improved fastening device carried by the door and the door frame;

Fig. 2 shows an enlarged elevation of the fastening device;

Fig. 3 shows an enlarged vertical sectional view on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2 illustrating the fastening device in side elevation;

Fig. 4 shows an enlarged vertical section on the line 44 of F ig. 2;

Fig. 5 shows a top plan view of the fas tening device;

Fig. 6 shows a horizontal sectional view on the line 6-6 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 7 shows a perspective view of the Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 22, 1921. Serial No. 342,629.

locking plate or keeper which is secured to the frame of the door opening; and

Fig. 8 shows a perspective view of the movable latch member or bolt.

In the drawings the invention is applied to an inside sliding door 10 of a railway car, the door being illustrated in a partially open position. The door opening 11 is formed in the side wall of the car and is bounded along its vertical edges by the door post 12. The door post 13 extends along the top of the door opening and carries a track member 14:,

which is supported by brackets 15 attached to the inside of the car wall. The door 10 is supported on the track 14 by means of hangers 16 which have flanged wheels 17 adapted to cooperate with the upper edge of the track member. The hangers 16 are detachably secured to brackets 18 attached to the inside of the car door, by means of adjustable clainping bolts 19 which engage longitudinal slots 20 in the hangers. This construction permits vertical adjustment of the hangers with respect to the door so that the relative positions of the door and track member will at all times cooperate with the fastening device hereinafter described. -When the door is moved to its open position. it is adapted to pass between the car wall proper and the inside sheathing formed by a plurality of vertically extending slides 21 which are secured to a longitudinal frame member 22.

The fastening device, designated generally by the numeral 25, comprises a casing 26 in which a vertically movable bolt member 27 is adapted to slide. The casing 26 is seated upon a metal plate 28 and both the plate and the casing are secured to the upper frame member of the door by means of rivets 29 which extend completely through the door and through the metal sheathing 10 by which the frame member of the door is protected. The casing is provided between the lateral edges thereof with a vertically extending groove or passageway 30 of rectangular cross section, which is adapted to receive the bolt member 27. This bolt or latch member has the form illustrated particularly in Fig. 8 and carries at one end a downwardly extending handle 31 which is adapted to be engaged by the fingers of the operator. The bolt is further provided be tween its ends with a longitudinal slot 32 which is adapted to be engaged by a rivet 33 extending through the casing and through or latch the plate 28. When the latch member is in its normal position, the upper wall of the slot 32 is adapted to rest upon the rivet 33 as illustrated, for example, in Fig. 4:. A coiled spring 34- is mounted in the sl ot 32 between the underside of the rivet 33 and the lower wall of the slot. This spring normally retains the latch member in its lower positflin. I

The upper part of the latch member 27 extends above the upper part of the casing 26 and above the upper edge of the door 10.

This part of the latch member carries a projecting lug 35 which extends inwardly toward the car walland is adapted to engage a notch 36 in a locking plate or keeper which is secured to the track member 14 by means of rivets 38. The upper surfaces of the plate 37 are inclined downwardly in opposite directions toward the ends of the plate as shown at 38 and these inclined surfaces are adapted to coact with the under surfaces 35 of the lug 35 when the door is moved toward locking position from either direction. l/Vhen the bolt 27 reaches the plate 37, the lu 35 rides upwardly 011 one of the inclined D surfaces 38, thereby compressing the spring 34;. As soon as the lug 35 reaches a position above the notch 36, the spring causes the lug to engage the notch automatically, thus preventing movement of the door in either di rection. The upper end of the latch member 27 is further provided with longitudinally extending cars 39 which are adapted to overlap the lateral edges of the notch 36 in the plate 37.

The fastening device above described is adapted to secure the door automatically when it reaches the desired position but the door can be readily released by pushing upwardly on the latch member at the same time that a longitudinal movement is imparted to the door. It is important to secure the locking plate to the track lt in such a position that the inclined end surfaces 38 will extend below the plane of the under surface 35 of the lug 35 when the latch member is in its normal lowermost position. This relative arrangement of the locking plate and the latch member can be maintained continuously by adjusting the hangers 16 in order to vary the elevation of the door and thereby keep the upper edge of the door parallel to the track member. Instead of using only one locking plate 37, another locking plate 37 may be secured in any other desired position along the track member, for example adjacent the other edge oi the door opening, where it will be automatically engaged by the latch member to hold the door in its full open position.

Although I have'shown and described a certain embodiment of the invention for purposes of illustration, it will be understood that it may be constructed in various other forms without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. The combination in a railway car of a sliding door, a plate mounted adjacent the upper edge of said door, said plate having a central notch in its upper side with inclined guideways leading upwardly thereto from the ends of the plate, and a resiliently mounted latch member carried by the door and having a transversely projecting part adapt ed to engage one of said guideways and to pass into said notch.

2. The combination in railway car of a sliding door, a casing secured to the upper part oi said door and having a vertical guidcway therein, a latch member slidably mounted in said guideway, means tending normally to move said latch member toward its lower position, and a locking plate mounted adjacent the uppe edge of said door and having a notch adapted to be engaged by said latch member, said plate being further provided with an inclined part adapted to raise said latch member above itsnormal position and to guide it into engagement with said notch.

3. The combination in a railway car of a sliding" door, a casing secured to the upper part of said door and having a vertical guideway therein, a latch member mounted in said guideway, said latch member having a longitudinal slot therein, a pin extending through said casing and engaging said slot, a spring mounted between said pin and one end of said slot, a locking plate mounted adjacent the projecting end of said latch memher, and means carried by said latch member to coact with said plate.

In testimony whereof, I have subscribed my name.

EDWARD rossoN. 

